Barcelo Maya Caribe: Nice resort but too big for us!!

The beach was beautiful and we were always able to find a lounge chair.The pools were sparkling clean. The grounds immaculate with mature palm trees throughout. But if you are expecting a tasty mimosa with your breakfast forget about that!! Alcohol is only served at 11 am, some bars only at noon. I’ve never experienced that on any resort!! We tried a couple of a la carte restaurants and at most they were acceptable but we’ve had better at other resorts. There was no live entertainment ot [... read more]her than the 9:30 pm shows. So in the evenings before dinner or after there wasn’t much to do. There was a DJ playing on the stage in the mall on a large TV screen which was great entertainment for the children dancing up on the stage but definitely not of interest if you are a senior looking to relax and enjoy your before or after dinner libation in a comfortable chair listening to some nice music. We found the “mall” very commercial. Who wants to walk around indoors at a mall when you can do that at home! Sports bar was OK. Bowling alley in there, but very pricey at $15 per person for one game. I felt everywhere you went it was a money grab. For families with children that wanted to use the theme parks you had better keep your credit card handy as there was a charge for mostly everything. At the newly built adults only section they closed the buffet at 4 pm. leaving people to either walk a good distance or take the shuttle bus to the other hotels in search of something to eat. I would say this resort is more geared to families with young children or young adults who enjoy going to the Sports Bar or Discotheque in the evenings. So as a whole we would not consider going back to this resort.

Barcelo Ixtapa: Awesome beach, friendly staff, cold showers, pay wifi

I just returned from a week at the Barcelo Ixtapa Jan 23-30th, 2020. For context I consider myself a seasoned all-inclusive traveler and have stayed in several AI’s in different countries, I consider myself a 4 star kind of guy, my comments compare this resort to others I have experienced. To start with this hotel, like many on the Ixtapa strip, started life as a hotel 3 decades back when Ixtapa was being built as a planned tourist area by the Mexican government. With the advent of the a [... read more]ll-inclusive resort many of these hotels have been converted into AI resorts, as has the Barcelo. It’s not a sprawling resort, compact but efficiently laid out, space has been used well and all the normal amenities are there. It has an old world colonial Mexican feel to it with marble floors and decorative ceiling designs but still gives a bit of modern feel due to the more futuristic design employed when built. An older place but fairly well kept. Guest mix is pretty much 50/50 Canadians/Mexicans, seemed to be very few guests from other countries. Demographic is on the older side. Overall a good experience but as with any stay there are good points and not so good points … The good: • The beach is awesome. Tan sand, 3km from one end to the other so you can get a good 6km walk every day if that is what you are after. One note tho, the red flag is always up, more on that later. • Most staff are genuinely interested in you and genuinely appreciate the fact that you have chosen their resort and country to spend your time. Friendly, most front liners speak English fairly well. • Food, for the most part was good … again, mostly, more on that later. • The resort was not full during the week which meant there wasn’t heavy competition for beach loungers, pool space, bar seats, etc … warning tho, on the weekends the place does fill up with locals and does get quite busy. Super nice people, just busy. • Room was pretty standard, clean, the housekeeping was well done … bathroom was a bit tiny. The not so good: • Paid wifi? Seriously? Come on Barcelo, that fell off the resort scene a decade ago … and don’t think that signing up for the MyBarcelo account is going to get it for you free (as advertised) as only bookings made thru their official hotel website qualify for the freebie … and of course the rates are jacked on the official website. The rate was $40 US$ for 7 days and that was after application of the 25% off coupon you get when you check in, not a big amount just that you feel nickel and dimed … • Cold showers … yup, after a warm one on night 1 (so I know you can do it Barcelo) the rest were cold … went to the front desk every evening and reported that, the front desk clerk would get on the phone and tell someone about it, next day cold shower … this went on for 6 days and as far as I know ROOM 411 STILL HAS NO HOT WATER … ridiculous. • Red flag on the beach … which I am told is up 90% of the time during tourist season. And if you dare to venture out in the water prepare to get swamped, I did and I’m not a small guy, waves can be huge. If you are a pool person then this isn’t an issue for you but if you like to swim in the ocean you will find yourself seeking a calmer beach, of which there are a few choices easily accessible by city bus/boat. • Food is of good quality and well prepared however there aren’t the wide-ranging choices of a larger resort, you won’t lose any weight here tho. There are a few grumpy old men servers in the main buffet that you have to hunt down and ask for service (ie water or a drink) however the female and younger male staff are great … and yes I tried tipping them but it makes no difference, they need to be reassigned. • You have to book your à la carte restaurants individually, each morning with the concierge … again, really? That’s so old school … at least even let a person book the whole week at one visit. Oh, and once being told there is no room you walk past the restaurant at the time you were denied only to see many empty tables, I’d say someone is just trying to minimize the food bill. Of course, most places are what you make them, after a while the place grows on you. Overall I found my time at the Barcelo Ixtapa pleasant, the weather was awesome, the beach great, most of the staff friendly, the place was clean, daily room upkept nicely. Do yourself a favor and get up early, stand in line for 20 minutes to book yourself a dinner at the Italian restaurant, it’s worth it, awesome dinner.

Ocean Coral and Turquesa: Great family resort!

We had a great time at the resort, there was lots to do and plenty for the kids! The weather was beautiful and the Ocean was great most days, a few days we had a bit more seaweed if the wind had picked up. Otherwise, it was calm and clear :) The food was not great but not bad! The buffet seemed to run out of quite a few things and it was very hit and miss. The breakfast was mostly good and the lunch was great but the dinners were just okay. Not a great selection. However, we did go to the Italia [... read more]n restaurant that was outdoors TWICE and it was fantastic! Service, food and ambiance ! Unfortunately, with an 8 month old it is not easy to do the a la Carte because her bed time is so early. Because you cannot make reservations we would only end up being able to eat later at night which did not work for our little one. I would end up having to leave early completely or walk her around and come back to my cold meal. If you have older kids or are going with adults than I highly suggest doing the a la cart instead of the buffet. We also went to the Mexican and Route 66 a la carte which were great! The teppanyaki was okay, not great compared to other resorts we have been to. Service on the resort was great, everyone was very friendly! Wait, not everyone. The front desk was horrible lol never picked up the phone and we had issues with our thermostat, leaving our room very cold at night. They would keep telling us they were coming but didn’t. Same with our bed situation they said they would fix and didn’t until the 4th night. I am a firm believer of the phrase “kill em with kindness” but apparently in this case we had to get pretty upset before they did anything lol The pools were also great (all three) We all enjoyed them including the kids :)

Royal Solaris Cancun: Great Resort

Just returned from a stay at Royal Solaris. We had a super time, older hotel but well maintained. This is our second visit to this hotel. Service was excellent, Staff extremely friendly and helpful. Rooms very clean, also pool area. Lots of activities around pool and a show every night. Meals were tasty and lots of variety. We hope to return for a third visit. Good value

Barcelo Maya Riviera: Heaven on earth

This hotel was like being in heaven. I would highly recommend this hotel and or all the Barcelo hotels in the same complex as it is the best location I have ever been at for a vacation. The food, the staff, the bars, the rooms where out of this world. Oops I forgot the pools as well

Majestic Elegance Costa Mujeres: Great Resort

Beautiful resort. Very well layout. One of the nicest rooms ever seen and beautiful walkout pools.High quality drinks. Excellent choice of food and desserts. Friendly staff eager to please.Really nice beach with no vendors to harass you. I would highly recommend!

Barcelo Gran Faro Los Cabos: Very nice resort

We had a very nice stay at this resort. The food and service was excellent. The evening shows were not very impressive though. The location is great. You can walk down the beach for miles and just watching the huge waves was super relaxing. Downtown is just a short walk or busride away and the artwalk on Thursday is a must.

Sandos Caracol Nature Resort and Water Park: Awesome familynresort

So many things to see and do at Sandos Caracol. Our family of 4 (kids 7&10) took advantage of cenote and river swimming, ocean and pools were great. Food was very good and night shows. Water park kids area was under construction which was unfortunate. Water slides were fun for kids, just a few slides for adults. Lots of jungle and animals throughout the resort which is one of the main reasons we chose it as well as many activities. Eco superior room with bunk bed was awesome. Will definitely b [... read more]e on our list to go back.

Grand Decameron Complex Bucerias Trademark: Repeat Visitors are Loyal

We both are impressed with the complex where the clients come for more vacation and will come again the next time. Staff is helpful and good at what they do. Our room was just right for us, quiet and located at the back in Block 5. The elderly have to use the elevator if they aren't on the main floor. Watching the removal of palm leaves and that the coconuts were cut off before any danger showed. The best thing was the hot weather, and the greeters sharing a papaya on shaved ice to all tha [... read more]t arrived. Staff are happy and it shows. We took two separate days to visit the Botanical Gardens, and San Sebastien where if you wish to use credit or debit cards, they don't have the setup for it. Take pesos only, even before USD. This town was built in the 1800s, and is on several hills, so bring comfortable shoes. They remain old fashioned. And leaving a cold climate made us feel free to discard the gloves, jackets, and caps and watch the waves, which was relaxing. Loved it!

Grand Palladium Kantenah: Missed

I was looking forward to seeing this beautiful resort but was unable to make the trip. Due to the lack of all info relayed to my husband and myself of the restrictions to the Option Flex South insurance when selling it to us. I awoke the day of flight with a severe case of Vertigo unable to move. Missed the 3hr window to reschedule due to lack of info from Marlena Bielak

Grand Sunset Princess: Amazing Resort!

This resort was AMAZING! The food was very good although the buffet was sometimes only warm. I found a microwave and would warm up my food. The A la carte Restaurants were very good. I loved the Fundue but at the Steak House, the steak was hard I loved going to the pool and the ocean. The beach had no seaweeds at all. The workers were very polite made things easy for us. I would absolutely return to this resort.

Iberostar Waves Paraiso Beach: Awesome resort!

We thought this resort was very nice! We were happy with our family suite, the maids did an awesome job picking up after us each day and making it feel like home for us! The pool and beach were awesome as well. One thing with little children is that the resort was very big and we had to do a lot of walking everywhere we went.

El Dorado Seaside Suites: Paper thin walls

The grounds are nice and tropical. I do not recommend staying in the infinity building. The views were beautiful but you can here everything, your neighbour s tv, talking, walking in the hall ways. You hear everything. The floors in your room were always wet due to condensation. The swim up pool was too cold, so we never used it. I. recommend to stay on the palm side, the only down fall is that it’s hard to get chairs or Bali beds unless you want to get up at 6am. A lot better on the infinity [... read more] side. The bars seems to serve you there knock off liquor. So hard to get Kailua at the bars. Don’t understand why they would not stock Kailua since that’s were it’s mad in Mexico. The main pool bar poured there knock off coffee liqueur in the kailua bottle thinking we wouldn’t know the difference because we asked for it everyday. We were so tried looking for it, we went into town and bought our own Kailua. There was 3 bartenders that were awesome they would go search for it. Nigel Sanchez, Jose Angel & Victor Manual Ucan. Melissa, head waiter in the Mexican bar did her best to accommodate us. We found her to be head and shoulders above any other Maitred’’s. The entertainment in the day was terrible. We did enjoy the food, no complaints there. We did not have a bad meal in any of the restaurants.

Riu Palace Costa Mujeres: Riu Palace in Costa Mujeres

Beautiful, very clean resort. Staff very friendly and always helpful. Comfy bed and nice rooms/balcony. Clean shady beach. Always can find a shaded area around the pool if you want to stay out of the sun. Food was fantastic. We were abit far from the city so you can’t leave the resort unless you go on excursions or take the bus(which is free) My only complaint was that our balcony faced the other hotel and we could hear the machines that provided power for the a/c. We asked for a room change t [... read more]he next day and they allowed us choices of rooms that faced the courtyard which were surprisingly quiet. We were even able to sleep with the balcony doors open. We were very pleased with our 7 day stay at Riu Place.

Barcelo Maya Grand Resort: 1st timer

It was ok, a lot of walking on concrete, rooms were breaking down (ie; cracking plaster, grout falling apart and blackening, rivets loose on sliding door lock, alarm clock broken, etc) Food very bland, and restaurant food no where near 4 1/2 star. Employees ignore you when they can't figure out what your saying, and they all want a tip "their life depends on it" Employees need training for how to treat people of different ages. 1st timers need to be given more awareness of all the "extra cos [... read more]ts", and you need to ask for everything or you don't get anything, meanwhile you don't know what to ask for. Felt we were being scammed by the Sunwing employee trying to get us to upgrade our excursion by lying about what time the bus left. Gabriel told us the cheaper excursion left at 6am, and the upgrade left later, but when we booked, the cheaper one all of a sudden now leaves at 9am. Just trying to get us to spend more money. A lot of waste every where you go, and no recycling. Language barriers annoying, especially the employees at reception and guest services. It was beautiful, grounds were nice and we'll designed, nice flow, mostly clean and we'll maintained. General staff mostly kind and polite. Free WiFi was almost useless, and 2 km away from our room. We were bored by day 4, probably will not do another all-inclusive.

Dreams Sapphire Resort and Spa: Beautiful Resort - Definitely 5 star

I had such an amazing time at the Now Sapphire resort. I do not have any complaints. The staff was so nice, always smiling and happy, no one was aggressive or pressured you to buy anything. The beach was amazing and they did a great job at keeping up the the seaweed. The kayaking included in my stay was awesome and so much fun. The spa was beautiful and very professional. And the food was AMAZING! The staff at the restaurants were so friendly and made me feel very welcomed. Also at night time t [... read more]here was barely any mosquitos or bugs. I LOVED every minute I spent there and I will most definitely return to this resort in the near future.

Barcelo Huatulco: Ok Resort but...

Overall we had a good time at the Barcelo Huatulco but I have a MAJOR ISSUE with this hotel and many others who blatantly bribe guests with various offers of additional free wi-fi, etc. to post totally unrealistic 5-star reviews on TripAdvisor.We talked to one guest who took free wi-fi in exchange for the positive review and did not seem to worry about how unethical it was! Note: The resort givers you one hour free per day. These are easily spotted all over TripAdvisor. They typically are br [... read more]ief, include the name(s) of an animation crew member (who the resort encourages to obtain positive reviews) and include nothing but glowing comments on the resort. Travellers who are not aware of this practice can be duped into thinking how great the hotel is. TripAdvisor should not publish these reviews and take issue with resorts who follow this practice. It is so widespread now I don't know if anyone can trust reviews.

El Dorado Maroma: Pure heaven

If you want a quiet, relaxing, intimate vacation with gourmet food and amazing service and people then this is your place! We just returned from a week here and definitely our fave resort ever visited. We’ve been multiple times to excellence resorts in Mexico and Dominican which are 5 stars and we like this resort by far. It’s boutique but has everything you need and more. THe beach is the best ever and because it has a man made island out from the shore the waters are calm and warm for swim [... read more]ming. Several restaurants to choose from with gourmet foods. You can reserve a spot if you want but not necessary if you go before 7pm. Amazing nightly entertainment like magician, reggae and fire show on the beach etc. The people go out of their way to make you happy and feel pampered. Grounds are impeccably kept and rooms are spacious and modern. Can’t wait to return!

Majestic Elegance Costa Mujeres: 5* Vacation!!

Resort was beautiful, food 5/5, drinks 5/5! Our butler Alberto was super helpful when we needed him and actually ran into us a few times during the week and asked if we needed anything. Beach was beautiful. Jesus by the catamarans took us out for an amazing ride and we even got to see some sea turtles and jump off the catamaran. The service, although slow at times was great. Everyone there is working so hard to ensure the guests are overly satisfied and it shows! Always bringing refills of [... read more] drinks to the table without even asking. Overall, would definitely recommend this resort. We will be back!

El Cozumeleno Beach: Awesome family trip

My husband & I stayed at this resort 5 years ago & knew that this was where we would like to some day bring our family. We returned home a week ago. We were a group of 12 with 4 young kids. We had such an amazing time! The weather was unusually windy so there was an abundance of seaweed washing up on shore (but the staff worked endlessly to get rid of it) and because of the wind it was mostly too wavy to go in the ocean this time. But the pools are great! The food was better than the last time,  [... read more]and I love that you can order from a menu in the buffet restaurant at lunch time if you prefer. Waitstaff are also very eager to please & are happy to get anything you would like if they can. We enjoyed having the service of Aldo, Andreas & Rodger to name a few. I wish I could remember more names of those who served us well. The resort is only 10 minutes from the airport and about the same to the ferry docks. Taxis are the mode of transportation & are reasonably priced. (95 pesos = approx $7 Canadian for up to 4 people - each way to the ferry docks, twice that much to the airport tho, but our transportation to & from the airport was included with our package. There was enough to keep our family busy. A nice & well kept mini golf course right on site, a kids club room that our grandkids loved. You can also see fairly large fish if it is not too wavy & you can walk out on the longer pier. We fed the fish the day we got into the ocean & they come right up & swim around you. Very cool experience for the little ones to see. Plus they got quite excited to see the 2 resident iguanas that we found near the mini golf area. I liked that servers come around to ask if you want a drink pretty much anywhere you are....even on the beach. So that way if you do go up to the bar yourself, you never have a long line up either. My only real issue was with the front desk on our first day. I had emailed the resort a month ahead telling them of us returning & bringing our family as well & requesting all 5 rooms to be on the same floor. I got an email confirming we would all be on the 5th floor. (& printed that email to take along). When checking in I was told that they only had 3 rooms on that floor. I showed the email & was told after that, that they could come up with 4. More or less....too bad, oh well. The last room was a few floors down with no view of the ocean (because of buildings) like we had paid for. I was quite annoyed with the 'oh well' attitude. They did change the last room to a floor above ours the next day. That was the most they could apparently do unless we waited another day or two to switch. I had planned this dream vacation down to the last 'T' so I was more than alittle disappointed with the end result. But that being said, I know that this seems to be the way most resorts are when it comes to trying to have rooms together. Have dealt with it in the past & probably will in the future so you just have to try to expect that what you request for rooms probably won't happen. The hotel now only supplies one 500ml bottle of water per day in your room. That is not nearly enough for a family of 4 in a room. I know they have water stations but if you don't bring along your own bottles, you can't fill them up yourself unless you save a few days worth of empties. We talked to our Air Canada rep at the hotel & after that we received 2 or 3 bottles each day. Other than that though, it is a wonderful place to stay....and I would go back in a heart beat. Our family has some pretty amazing memories of our time together there.